According to Disney, this was the first time a monorail crash like this has happened in the entire ride’s lifespan in the park at 38 years.

Also according to the report, the monorail operator died at the scene, and the other was taken to the hospital because he was “emotionally shaken.” And the whole thing went down around 2 a.m., thankfully when very few visitors are on the trains, though six people were treated at the scene of the crash, as reported by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.

Yahoo News also reported that Disney’s senior spokesman Michael Griffin identified the driver as 21-year-old Austin Wuennenberg, though he would not discuss how long Wuennenberg had been with Disney or what might have happened to cause the crash. Officials at Disney also would not discuss the operation system of the monorail with reporters.

I always find it interesting when an incident like this, especially one involving a death, occurs, that those representing the company involved, especially one as big as Disney, no one wants to say anything in fear of creating any implications, or, rather, in fear of scaring more tourists (more money) away. Of course, with this current economic situation, companies that rely on tourist dollars are going to be all the more unlikely to give any full reports on situations like this.

The same thing happened a few years ago at Disney’s Epcot when two people died after riding Mission: SPACE.